A price that ends in .90 or .99 follows a tactic to increase sales of low-value products, which shows that customer behavior is not always rational.

This old technique, known as the “left-digit effect,” can be explained the following way: customers see the left number first and, therefore, have an opinion on the price before paying attention to their rationale. At the same time, customers tend to relate the digit they see in the first place to the next lowest monetary number.

For example, a price such as $2.99 instead of $3.00 will make the customer instinctively focus on the lower price digit on the left, the number 2. This will happen even though both values, $2.99 and $3.00, are almost identical. As a result, the first price will look much more attractive, making the potential buyer feel like they’re spending less.

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